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Patriarchy In Allan Johnson's How I Met Your Mother

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How I Met Your Mother is a sitcom that follows a group of friends, narrated by the main character Ted Mosby, through flashbacks. The show overall can be viewed as problematic in a multitude of ways. While I was watching the show I thought of Allan Johnson’s article Patriarchy, because it was very clear that the patriarchy was upheld. Not only is the overall society within the show patriarchal, the environment around all of the friends also reflects the patriarchy. There are two lead female characters in the show, Lilly and Robin, but they are seen primarily through the male-gaze. While there are many things that could be critiqued using a feminist lens in the series, I will be analyzing season 5, episode 8 The Playbook through a feminist lens. This episode is centered on a lead character, Barney Stinson, as he uses his playbook of tricks to deceive women with the expectation of having sex with them. In the show Barney explains this to his friends saying …show more content…

Robin is coping with the loss of the relationship through focusing all of her time and attention on her career. Meanwhile, Barney is determined to have sex with as many women as possible, disregarding any emotional response to the breakup. Remarkably, the other friends in the group do not have a problem with Barney’s coping mechanism of lying to women in order to have sex with them, yet, they take issue with Robin’s radical idea of not actively searching for a man. This reinstates the common fallacy that women require a significant other, in this case a man, to feel fulfilled. Moreover, it is expected that Barney not deal with his emotions of the breakup but rather suppress his feelings. While I do enjoy this show, I think it is important to look at the personality and characteristics of the characters, reflect on what they are saying, and think of the impact it can have on the

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Patriarchy in a system simply refers to males put in a higher position than females excluding them from being the head of the household and in many different governmental and leadership positions. This way of life proceeds to spill over into other areas of life, which allow men to believe they have the authority in all positons over women. Misogyny refers to the hatred of women, and the patriarchal system can easily lead to men hating women for various reasons. When one is in a system where the male already has authority and power, it could be easy to begin to view females as worthless individuals. In Sharon Lennon’s story, “What Is Mine,” she tells a story from her past about being mistreated by the baseball coach.

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